Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

1 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree? An official answer can be found on the Joshua Tree National Park website.

“By the mid-19th century, Mormon immigrants had made their way across the Colorado River. Legend has it that these pioneers named the tree after the biblical figure, Joshua, seeing the limbs of the tree as outstretched in supplication, guiding the travelers westward.” Larry McAfee, National Park Service, 2016

Yucca Brevifolia

But, there are a number of alternative answers. Chris Clarke, an environmental journalist and natural historian explored a few of these in his 2013 report for KCET, Southern California’s PBS affiliate. Which he began by quoting the Yucca Brevifolia Wikipedia page.

"The name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer."

Whether guiding or praying, the trees naming is still attributed to mid-19th century Mormons. But there is a rather significant objection to this claim made by the well respected cultural historian, Richard V. Francaviglia, in his 2003 book, Believing in Place: A Spiritual Geography of the Great Basin.

“The name Joshua tree did not enter the region’s vocabulary until the twentieth century.”

In today’s world, it is possible to investigate Francaviglia’s assertion by searching digital copies of western U. S. newspapers published between 1850 and 1920. Perusing the individual news articles, a noticeable change in the choice of words used when referring to Yucca Brevifloia occurs after 1905, before then it is called Yucca Tree, Yucca Palm or simply Yucca.

2 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society The famous Great Basin explorer John C. Fremont was the first to make scientific observations about the Yucca Brevifolia in the Expeditions of John C. Fremont 1844, published by the U. S. War Department. Fremont simply referred to the plant as “yucca” noting that it occurred in “forests” in California. (Note the entirety of the southwestern U. S. including Utah and Nevada was at the time in the Mexican province of Alta California.)

3 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society Lieutenant R. S. Williamson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers was, in 1853, surveying a practical railway route from the Mississippi to the Pacific and passed through present day Antelope Valley, California. The colored lithograph below was prepared from sketches by Charles Koppel, the expedition’s assistant civil engineer and artist.

Williamson noted the remarkable yucca vegetation in the valley. He also reported that the leaves of the Yucca were about as strong and as sharp as a bayonet and that the plant was commonly called the “bayonet tree”.

4 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society An early reference to the uses of Yucca fibers can be found the the end of an article listing the vegetable resources of Southern Utah, written by Joseph E. Johnson, publisher of the Utah Pomologist.

Utah Pomologist, February, 1874 St. George, Utah

Johnson, a Mormon, was quite scientific in his writing about crops and produce. He received patents for new species of peach and other orchard trees. Nonetheless, the writing here uses the common name “Tampico” for yucca fiber.

Why wouldn’t Johnson, a Mormon, have used the term Joshua, if it was common among his friends, neighbors and brothers?

Yucca Brevifolia received its proper scientific name with the publication of Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian: Expedition of 1872 Lieutenant George M. Wheeler, Commanding, 1875.

During the expedition, Dr. George Engelmann, classified a number of distinct Yucca plants including Yucca Brevifolia, Yucca Angustifolia, Yucca Baccata, Yucca Whipplei and Agave Utahense, Engelmanni that hadn’t been observed in Texas or the East. Joseph Ellis Johnson, a newspaper publisher, and Dr. Edward Palmer, an archeologist, were credited by Engelmann with the discovery/classification of Agave Utahense.

Note that Engelmann made his observations and classifications during the expedition of 1872, but that the scientific name’s publication was in 1875.

5 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

Joseph Ellis Johnson and Dr. Edward Palmer encouraged Charles Christopher Parry another prominent botanist to come in Southern Utah in 1874 and 1875. While in Washington County, Utah, Parry was corresponding with Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis, Missouri concerning numerous indigenous plants including Yucca Brevifolia.

One sentence, in one letter from Charles Christopher Parry to Dr. George Engelmann dated 14 April 1874 is particularly relevant to our enquiry. It was reprinted from the original in the March 1988 issue of the Great Basin Naturalist by Stanley L. Welsh of Brigham Young University, in an article titled Utah Botanical Explorer Charles Christopher Parry.

14 April 1874, excerpt from letter addressed to Dr. George Engelmann from Charles Christopher Parry

< -- The Mormons

So, yes, the Mormons did call Yucca Brevifolia, “Joshua” in 1874. It should be noted that Parry was residing in St. George, Utah at the time he made this statement.

6 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

July, 1881, Chicago Tribune

Yucca tree, Yucca palm and Yucca were the names by which Yucca Brevifolia was called by until after the turn of the century.

Travel by rail increased the public’s exposure to this unusual plant during the later part of the 19th century.

Dagger-shaped leaves.

Nothing more grotesque.

Pulp used to make banknote paper.

7 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

November, 1896, San Francisco Chronicle

Yucca tree or Spanish bayonet

Classified in the lily family of plants.

Sharp pointed leaves,

Seen near the railroad.

8 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society 1902, The Romance of the Colorado River, Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Dellenbaugh was a member of John Wesley Powell’s 1871 Colorado River Expedition. His 1902 book included photographs, sketches and artwork made on that expedition.

Charles Roscoe Savage was a prominent Mormon photographer based in Salt Lake City.

Note the variation from the scientific name Yucca Brevifolia from a reclassification made in the 1890s by Dr. Torrey of Kew Gardens, England.

In 1902, Dellenbaugh wrote, “And the yuccas are quite as beautiful, with their tall central rods so richly crowned with bell-like blossoms, the fantastic Clistoyucca arborescent, or Joshua Tree, being more in harmony with the archaic landscape than any other plant there.” Dellenbaugh and the other members of the John Wesley Powell Expedition had learned the term “Joshua Tree” from their contact with Mormon colonists.

You can read the 1903 edition of The Romance of the Colorado River at https://library.si.edu/ digital-library/book/romanceofcolor00dell. The book was well received by the public in the first decade of the twentieth century. The third and largest edition was printed in 1909.

9 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

Mule train hauling cargo outside Goldfield, Nevada ca. 1905

The use of the word “Joshua tree” in newspapers begins around 1905. Many instances occur in the newspapers of Goldfield, Tonopah, Rhyolite and other Nevada mining towns, or in stories about those places published in the Deseret News, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times and other national newspapers.

Note that there is only one Joshua tree visible in the above photograph taken on the outskirts of Goldfield in 1905 (dark spot on hill). Joshua trees were burned to fire mining smelters.

January, 1908, Deseret News

A joke or a josh.

Good for fuel.

10 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society December, 1905, Goldfield News

From car windows.

The Joshua lends relief.

June, 1907, Tonopah Daily Bonanza

We can only offer Joshua trees as tokens of hospitality, and fellowship.

September, 1907, Tonopah Daily Bonanza

Stay with us in the shade of the Joshua trees.

11 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

September, 1936, Evening Star (Washington, DC)

Save odd plant from extinction.

Set aside by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Joshua Tree National Monument.

Mormons gave giant yucca its Joshua name.

Pointing them to Promised Land.

12 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society 1929, Garden Club of America, Flower Show Traveling Exhibition, Minerva Hamilton Hoyt

In the late 1920s widowed Pasadena socialite Minerva Hamilton Hoyt began a crusade to preserve the desert where Joshua Trees grew. Her exhibit, filled seven freight cars with native plants, desert rocks, and sand, shipped to New York, then Boston and finally London.

1934, Stephen Willard Photograph Album, Minerva Hamilton Hoyt

Hoyt’s crusade was capped with a picture book that she had delivered to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by United State Chamber of Commerce president Henry Harriman in 1934.

13 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

1937, Borderland, Screen Guild Productions

The new Joshua Tree National Monument became a more fashionable location, attracting Hollywood film companies, including box office star Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), to the area in 1937 for two productions, Borderland and In Old Mexico. In both films, the beauty of the desert scenery and Joshua trees is highlighted.

14 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society June, 1938, Washington County News (Utah)

Miss Maurine Whipple of this city.

Nearly complete novel, “Giant Joshua”.

Shortly after the designation of Joshua Tree National Monument by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in September of 1936, Maurine Whipple of St. George, Utah began writing her successful novel “Giant Joshua” for Houghton-Mifflin of Boston. The excerpt below is from the finished novel, which was finally published in 1941.

“Near-by grew a stunted, cactus-like tree with spiny branches; it looked like a gnarled dwarf with weird, extended arms. ‘That’s a Joshua tree,’ explained Abijah. ‘When Brother Brigham called Saints who were colonizin’ San Bernardino back to Salt Lake at the time of Johnson’s Army, they had to cross a big desert which stretches many miles to the south and west of where we be now.’

‘Just at the beginning of the desert they ran into whole forests of those trees,’ continued Abijah. ‘Only on the desert they grow to be giants. Giant Joshuas. The Saints called ‘em that, their twisted branches made ‘em look like Joshua with his arms outstretched pointing the Israelites to the Promised Land.’ “

Given the timing of these events, it is certainly fair to ask if Maurine knew this account from growing up in St. George, or from the news accounts of the National Monument dedication.

15 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society 1940, Maurine Whipple beneath Giant Joshua, photographer unknown

Maurine Whipple grew up in St. George, Utah. With partners, her father owned and operated, the Electric Theater. She attended Dixie College and the University of Utah. Juanita Brooks taught at her at Dixie College. Both sides of her family had been polygamists.

The Giant Joshua was about polygamy and the impossibly hard life suffered by her heroine Clory, the third wife of Abijah, an original colonist of St. George. The subject of Juanita Brooks first published article in the September 1934, issue of Harpers magazine was polygamy. Juanita assisted Maurine with historical research for The Giant Joshua. Maurine Whipple appeared on the national literary stage nearly a decade before her mentor Juanita.

Maurine had traveled to Southern California across the Mojave desert in 1929 to study drama and outdoor recreation. Giant Joshua trees, like the one in this photograph, have all survived in an incredibly arid climate, to grow into huge specimens where they dwarf all other vegetation. Each of these giants, with their tangled and distorted limbs, provide a visual record of the many harsh vicissitudes they have withstood. Maurine’s choice of the name for her nationally acclaimed novel reveals much about her view of life in Mormon desert outposts.

Veda Tebbs Hale gave the 25th annual Juanita Brooks lecture in 2008. The subject was Maurine Whipple and her Joshua. Available here https://library.dixie.edu/special_collections/ Juanita_Brooks_lectures/2008.pdf .

16 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

February, 1948, Vernal Express (Utah)

The Joshua is still undiscovered by tourists.

Named (probably by the Mormons).

Beehive State has a Joshua forest.

17 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

The Joshua name for Yucca Brevifolia almost certainly originated with the Mormons traveling across the Mojave desert in the mid-19th century. The 1874 involvement of St. George Mormon Joseph E. Johnson with noted botanists Charles Parry and George Engelmann at that time confirms the Mormon use of the term. But, there are a number of different explanations of why the biblical prophet’s name was appropriate.

Joshua ... hands raised up to the sky in prayer. Joshua ... uplifted trumpets collapsing the walls of Jericho. Joshua ... welcoming them with upturned arms. Joshua ... guiding them to the Promised Land.

Of course we know mid-19th century Mormons were familiar with the Old Testament and Joshua, but there are biblical passages supporting many differing explanations.

The most famous Mormon emigration was from Iowa to the Great Salt Lake Valley across the great plains beginning in 1847, but yuccas don’t grow along that historic Mormon Trail. A battalion of about 500 Mormons were recruited to serve in the Mexican-American War (1846 - 1848). They marched through present day New Mexico and Arizona to San Diego, when all of Alta California was still a province in Mexico. Members of this Mormon Battalion would have traversed the Mojave desert and seen forests of Yucca Brevifolia. Mormon leader Brigham Young sent about 900 colonists to Southern California in 1851. They purchased part of the Rancho de San Bernardino from the Californio land grant family that owned it, and established a thriving settlement. These colonists were recalled to Utah in 1857. During their brief tenure they established a wagon road, the Old Mormon Trail, from Southern California to Southern Utah across the Mojave desert. Joshua Trees in the Mojave Desert

18 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

Joshua Tree Canopies Tilting to the South

A fairly recent scientific article published in the November 2016 issue of Western North American Naturalist by Steven Warren, etal. might have some relevance. It was titled “Directional Floral Orientation of Joshua Trees”.

We document the unique and heretofore unreported directional orientation of its flower panicles. The flower panicles grow primarily at the tips of branches that are oriented to the south. When the branches with flower panicles are not oriented in a southerly direction, the flower panicles themselves tend to bend or tilt toward the south.

Many non-scientists have observed over the years that “Joshua tree canopies tilt to the south”. It is almost certain that the Mormons crossing the Mojave desert would have taken note of this growth habit. The very shape of a Joshua tree, would been a directional compass for them, assisting in their orientation across an otherwise mostly featureless landscape. Arms outstretched. Pointing toward their destination.

19 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

Joshua Tree from Above at Mid-Day

The characteristic shape of a Joshua tree, tilting south and spreading wider in the east-west direction could very easily have pointed 19th century Mormon travelers in the right direction (to the Promised Land), giving Maurine Whipple’s 1941 account in her Giant Joshua book even more credence.

‘That’s a Joshua tree,’ explained Abijah. ‘When Brother Brigham called Saints who were colonizin’ San Bernardino back to Salt Lake at the time of Johnson’s Army, they had to cross a big desert which stretches many miles to the south and west of where we be now.’

‘Just at the beginning of the desert they ran into whole forests of those trees,’ continued Abijah. ‘Only on the desert they grow to be giants. Giant Joshuas. The Saints called ‘em that, their twisted branches made ‘em look like Joshua with his arms outstretched pointing the Israelites to the Promised Land.’

20 August, 2020 Why is Yucca Brevifolia called Joshua Tree Richard Kohler, Washington County (Utah) Historical Society

21 August, 2020